Incident Summary:
09/01/2010: James Lee took three hostages, two employees and the security guard, at the Discovery Communications headquarters building in Silver Spring, Maryland in the United States. Lee entered the building at about 1:00pm waving a starter pistol (which was believed to be a gun at the time), with four crude explosive strapped to his body, two were propane cylinders with pipes attached that contained shotgun shells, and the other two were pipe bombs. Lee also had a second starter pistol on him as he held the hostages for four hours as negotiators spoke with him. Lee was motivated by his disapproval of the Discovery network's television programming and in his manifesto on the internet, he laid out 11 demands for the network to change it's programming to focus on sterilization and infertility of humans rather than showcasing overpopulation, and Lee viewed the shows to be doing little to save the planet. When one hostage tried to run, Lee pointed a pistol at him, at which time Lee was shot to death by police snipers. All three hostages were freed unharmed and the rest of the 1,900 employees of the building were able to escape unharmed as well.
Overview
GTD ID:
201009010022
When:
2010-09-01
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Maryland
City:
Silver Spring
Location Details:
The incident occurred at 1 Discovery Place at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road in Silver Spring, MD
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Barricade Incident) |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Journalists & Media |
Name of Entity |
Discovery Communications |
Specific Description |
Discovery Communications headquarters offices and employees |
Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
Hostages |
Yes |
Number of Hostages |
3 |
US Hostages |
3 |
Hours of Kidnapping |
4 |
Days of Kidnapping |
0 |
Outcome |
Successful Rescue |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Suicide (carried bodily by human being) |
Fake Weapons |
|
Weapon Details |
two starter pistols, four IEDs (two propane cylinders strapped to body with pipes holding shotgun shells, and two pipe bombs) |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | Yes |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
Articles disagree as to whether or not an explosive device strapped on Lee actually detonated as he was shot by police, or if it was disarmed afterward. Four more bombs were also found at a residence in Maryland. In 2008, Lee pled guilty to disorderly conduct for protesting outside the Discovery building. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Unknown |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
1 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
1 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
CNN Staff, "Gunman at Discovery Channel HQ shot dead, hostages rescued," CNN.com, September 1, 2010. |
"Gunman's body removed from Discovery building," Associated Press Online, September 2, 2010. |
"More Bombs Found in Discovery Standoff Case," MSNBC.com, September 2, 2010. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties